based on Student-Built Musical Instruments
John Bertles' work with curriculum and staff development
based on student-built musical instruments has proven to be a valuable
link to understanding how "real" musical instruments work, and many arts
institutions have taken advantage of this link. For Yo-yo Ma's
Silk Road Project he contributed instrument designs and lesson plans
for their "Source Book". He has written "simple instrument" portions
of curriculum for Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic and Manhattan
School of Music. His homemade and student-built instruments are regularly
featured in programs for the Young People's Concerts at Avery Fisher
Hall and at Carnegie Hall. His full or half-day staff development
program "Beyond the Shaker" (see photo below) has been helping classroom and
music teachers to use student-built instruments in a meaningful way, incorporating
arts standards, core curricula and assessment tasks.
Teachers look for materials to built their own instruments
in "Beyond the Shaker" staff development workshop
Here are some areas that he can address:
Contact John Bertles
Teachers look for materials to built their own instruments
in "Beyond the Shaker" staff development workshop
Here are some areas that he can address:
- Compare and contrast orchestra instruments and instrument families with their simple student-built counterparts
- Train teachers, arts specialists and teaching artists to use student-built musical instruments as teaching tools
- Simple composing with student-built instruments and literacy exercises, such as writing stories and then setting them to music using student instruments
- Science connections - understanding how the original orchestral or ethnic instruments work by using simple instruments as hands-on examples (not everyone can play the oboe, but everyone can play a plastic straw oboe)
- Social Studies connections to world music and ethnic instruments
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